Peak Performance and Music

Peak performance and music

Plus Fitnessis an Australian-owned 24/7
franchised gym network, with outlets stretching from Penrith (NSW)
to Perth (WA), recently launched in NZ, and soon to be launched in China
and the UK.

Experienced gym owners Nigel Miller
and John Fuller launched their 24-hour gym franchise model in 2011. Within two
years, their impressive revenue growth secured them accolades in the pages of
the nation’s top business magazines Smart
Company and Business Review Weekly. They also came to
the attention of the Franchising Council of Australia, awarded Emerging
Franchisor of the Year in 2013.

Five years down the track, Plus Fitness 24/7 now has 180 franchisees in
Australia and a clear goal of establishing over 200 gyms by the end of this
year.

The franchise model is based on a turnkey approach with guidance from
the franchisor’s 21 staff, even in atmospherics, such as providing advice for
the best music to work out to.

Amy Doorey, General Manager, has had a solid career within the fitness
industry and has seen many ‘music and workout’ trends in her time, from zumba
to hot yoga, step aerobics and pole dancing.

“There is one truth to providing the
‘right’ music to work out to...? and that is there is no ‘right’ music. Our mantra is to ‘exercise your
freedom’ and we live that every day. We encourage our franchisees to experiment
with their playlists, the volume, tracksand the time of day certain music is
played. They know their clientele best.”

“The music video that motivates in Narellan may offend someone working
out with their daughter in our gym in the Blue Mountains.

“These days, we see about half our clients working out to their own
playlists on headphones, but the balance are, at least in part, relying on our
music videos to motivate them, and that’s where we can make a difference.

“Background music creates an instant atmosphere and we even get requests
for songs from clients and incorporate that into the service we offer. We
recently hosted a series of open days with live crosses to local radio
stations, and we had requests!” Amy said.

The importance of music in gyms is global. Some 53 per cent of people in
a 2012 UK survey (1) said they would visit the gym less frequently if the gym
stopped playing music. Finnish researchers conducted MRIs on subjects listing
to an Argentinian tango and found that music lights up areas of the brain
associated with movement, supporting the idea that music and movement are
closely intertwined (2). Christopher Bergland, a world-class American endurance
athlete, coach, author, and political activist is certain of the link. He has a
Guinness World Record for running (247km in 24 hours on a treadmill) and is the
three-time champion of the Triple Ironman.

In Psychology
Today (3) Christopher said, “You can dial up a mood, mindset or
perception on demand by choosing music that elicits a specific emotional
response in you. As an athlete, I developed an ideal mindset for peak
performance and used an arsenal of time-tested songs to fortify this alter ego
and invincible state of mind. During my training and races it became obvious
that even in really horrible weather conditions, or when I was physically
suffering, that I could use music (and my imagination) to create a parallel
universe that had little to do with reality. I used music to stay optimistic
and see the glass as perpetually half-full while doing ultra-endurance races.
You can use music as a tool when you work out or in your daily life the same
way.”

“We all know the feeling of finding just the right song for that
specific moment in time. Through trial-and-error you can find songs that strike
a particular emotional chord in you and use this music to create a targeted
mindset or explanatory style.

“Our emotional response to music is very individual. Not all ‘happy’
songs are universally perceived as being uplifting or are guaranteed to put you
in a good mood all the time.

“Identify the target mindset you want to click into and then use music
to tap into this conscious state-of-mind by entering ‘up’ through a “trap door”
buried at a sub-conscious level. This is called bottom-up processing.

“What songs remind you of summer and sunshine? What music videos do this
for you? Making a playlist of songs that remind you of summertime in the dead
of winter and working out to them is a healthy way to combat the effects of SAD
(Seasonal Affective Disorder).”

Plus Fitness 24/7 has Zoo Media supply music throughout most of its
gyms.